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Chapter 5 — Investigation Committee Report - preliminary issues

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Anonymity

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Although the process is called anonymising, that is a relatively convenient and pronounceable, but somewhat misleading, way of referring to the actual process, which is protecting persons living or dead by giving them pseudonyms. The mechanics of the process are that respondents are given names from a catalogue of names that have a common source. For example, all the Christian Brothers are given names of French origin. In other cases, Spanish or Italian names are used. As far as possible, the names have been chosen with a view to emphasising the fact that they are pseudonyms.

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Some names have not been anonymised. Officials of the Department of Education are generally described by the names they used in correspondence or reports.


Footnotes
  1. In Re Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse [2002] 3 IR 459.
  2. Mary Raftery and Eoin O’Sullivan, Suffer the Little Children (New Island, 1999).